Vacation

I just returned from a one week vacation.  This is the first time I have had any days off since last fall when I went to Vancouver Island.  This time around it was a lot more relaxing as I was NOT on call and not working from my computer in the evenings.  The new management team took control of the company and I was truly on vacation.  This is the first time I have had a true escape from work in about thirty years, and it was wonderful.  Makes me really look forward to my retirement.

Hailey and I went out to the cottage together on Saturday June 20th.  We had several visitors drop by, all out in the area for the weekend.  My cousin, a Monochrome Guild member and a couple of other friends.  On Sunday afternoon Hailey returned to the city.  She had to return to her part time job on Monday, her first scheduled shift since the virus pandemic erupted in March.  I stayed at the cottage by myself.  Later that evening my friend Rob arrived from his home in Vernon.  Rob and I were to spend the week photographing with our big cameras.  We have done this many times before including on our trips to Utah, to Vancouver Island, and locally to the mountains and badlands.

This time around we made a couple of trips up into the National Parks of Banff and Jasper, as they have recently re-opened following the pandemic.  Mostly we explored up around the Big Bend area and up near the Columbia Icefields.  One day we wandered around Nordegg and checked out the Historic site.  And another day we took a drive up the Forestry Trunk Road to Blackstone River.  Wednesday was the worst day of the week and it rained most of the day, fairly heavily it times.  This was the day that we set aside to finish up the electrical work at the cottage.

Rob is a retired electrician and this was his third time out to Nordegg to help me with the wiring.  Actually it was the fourth time.  The first time was when the cottage was in the process of being framed and we were going to start the rough in.  We got 16 inches of wet snow that September of 2017, and our plans were cancelled.  The following March we stayed at a nearby rental cottage and did the rough in work.  Later that summer, after the insulation and drywall was completed, Rob returned and we energized the building and installed all the fixtures and controls.  This past week was his first time back and there has been a lot of change from the empty shell of a cottage, to a nearly finished home.

On Saturday morning Rob packed up and hit the road for the return drive to Vernon.  I stayed on through the rest of the weekend and extended my break to a full nine days.  Margarit and the girls stayed in the city while I was on my break, so I really had the place to myself.  I have never been at the cottage for that long at one time before.  And with no work responsibilities it was very relaxing.  I sure look forward to spending a lot of time out there in the years to come.